dryknife:Elderberries have shown in studies that they can be quite effective against no less than eight strains of the flu virus. They may help in preventing some flu types from infecting cells that are still healthy. Clinical trials of elderberries show that they can cut 90% of many flu infections within a period of only three days. Participants in the same test given a placebo took six or seven days to recover. Elderberry is sold in Israel, where this study took place, as Sambucol, an herbal medicine that is patented for help in treating the symptoms of the flu.

douchebag/hater:Since 'The Stand' has been brought up, here's something in it that always bothered me.

There is a scene that takes place at the military base where the General in charge is watching monitors showing the cafeteria.

He describes a person who died and his face fell into a bowl of soup and the General says, in essence, 'It's a shame that this guy will spend the rest of eternity slumped over' with his face in a serving of beef barley.

Really? Captain Trips killed people INSTANTLY while they are in a non-quarantined area of the base?

This little fark-up of King's shows someone wasn't paying attention, especially in terms of how the virus was supposed to work.

I am currently reading The Stand, so I'm getting a M-O-O-N out of these replies.

jaybeezey:coco ebert: Majick Thise: ginandbacon: Can we just shoot every doctor who prescribes antibiotics for colds and flues? Please?

[...] Called in sick, and yes they charged me at work for the day, went to the doc. Got the flu swab test. Got antibiotics, luckily I had the next two days scheduled off so I was only charged the one day.[...]You can be fired for being sick but hey, who needs unions anymore. They've served their purpose!

You can also choose to work somewhere else.

That assumes anybody is hiring. I, on the other hand, might suggest that in a case like this the best solution is to be a good employee and go to work no matter how sick you are.

Make sure you take time to shake your boss' hand and thank them for being so awesome while you're at it. Maybe offer to make them a sandwich or fetch their coffee.

We should also be talking about widespread antibiotic use in livestock and its contribution to antibiotic resistance in humans.

Bacteria -- even the good gut microbiota -- develop antibiotic resistance in livestock. We eat the meat, which is often contaminated with gut microbiota, and the bugs carrying antibiotic resistance genes wind up in our gut. Through horizontal gene transfer, pathogenic bacteria can grab these genes. Even if we severely curtailed overprescription of antibiotics in humans, we still have rampant use of these broad-spectrum antibiotics in livestock and that's where a lot of the problems are coming from.